1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to planters, and in particular to a manual seed planter for embedding seeds by an operator in an upright, standing position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various planters have heretofore been devised for accurately and reliably embedding seeds in cultivated ground. Mechanized planters are well known and generally tend to be relatively complicated and expensive. Such mechanized planters are typically employed by commercial agricultural operations and are often used for planting large areas of cultivated ground on farms which can comprise many acres.
However, many people who maintain small gardens and plots plant relatively small numbers of seeds and thus do not require mechanized, high volume equipment. Many such gardens are planted by hand, i.e., with a spade and the gardener working in a kneeling position. Such work tends to be laborious, time-consuming and uncomfortable. Gardeners who plant by hand may thus find themselves constrained by the limitations of their equipment and time available for planting.
Hand planters have heretofore been devised for addressing such needs. For example, the Theobald U.S. Pat. No. 1,287,516 discloses a hand planter with an operating handle and a seed hopper.
The McDonough U.S. Pat. No. 1,994,196 discloses a seed planter with a hopper mounted on top and an operable gate at its lower end. The Goldstein U.S. Pat. No. 2,865,315 discloses a hand bulb planter with a spacing measuring device.
However, heretofore there has not been available a planter with the advantages and features of the present invention.